Rho is lapped by the riverOlona and crossed by its tributariesBozzente andLura, nowadays partially cloaked inside the town.
At the north and east of the town, there is the road of national interestStrada statale 33 del Sempione, which in the past was crossing the town itself, in the currentcorso Europa. Rho is at the meeting point of railways linking Milan toVarese (Line S5) andDomodossola and Milan toNovara (Line S6).
In Passirana, it is based a meteo station, managed in cooperation with the Lombard Meteorological Center.[3]
Inside the municipality of Rho are located sevenfrazioni:
Castellazzo: modest inhabited in the west part of the communal territory, close to the place where was situated a country manor house; nowadays it is located near the popular residential quarter ofvia Capuana
Biringhello: small village up north-west the town, beyond the Sempione road and bordering with Barbaiana ofLainate
Lucernate: popular southern neighbourhood, beyond the railway station, in the zone of resurgences
Mazzo: called alsoMazzo Milanese orMazzo di Rho, densely populated eastern hamlet, close to theFiera di Milano.
Pantanedo: little hamlet, up east Mazzo, made just by an inhabited farm house and some industrial plants
Passirana: town located in the north part of the municipality, close toArese
Terrazzano: big north-east hamlet, near the junction betweenA4 andA50 (tool-house of Terrazzano on the A50), it is near to Arese too.
Rho is one of the most ancient towns ofLombardy, originating during the Roman era. This was confirmed by excavations associated with building and road construction in 1876, 1890 and 1917. Additional research during the 20th century showed that the town had remarkable importance during the imperial age, when it was part of theXI Transpadanian region.
The current topography can be traced to a style of organization from ancient Romancenturiation: most of the roads run parallel in east-west or north–south directions. The reference axis are thecardo (north–south, via Madonna and via Garibaldi) and theDecumano (east–west, via Matteotti and via Porta Ronca).[4] These roads are crossing in piazza San Vittore, nowadays still the center of the town.
Further archeological researches confirmed the existence in Roman age of theVia Mediolanum-Verbannus, a road connectingMilan to theLake Maggiore, passing throughLegnano andGallarate. Along this infrastructure Rho was placed at the 10th mile, the resting point for the army then. Ancient Romans redirected the flow ofOlona inLucernate, digging an artificial riverbed directed to Milan and running along the road.[5] This was considered a fundamental solution to increase traffic on the road, as transport by water was a much easier solution to transport big amounts of goods.[5]
TheChristianization of the village took place in the 4th – 5th centuries. In the piazza San Vittore an ancient cemetery and a Christian chapel has been found; in the current via Belvedere were discovered Capuchin graves with engravings ofalfa andomega.
The barbarian invasions caused a deep economical crisis in the zone, and the power passed toLombards and then toFranks. During the Lombard reign, the village assumed in its own topography names existing still nowadays;Pomero for example, from the LatinPost Moerus, meaningout of the walls. Such origin is nevertheless not universally recognized: some texts related it to the presence in the place of several apple trees. In the same period it is conferred to Rho the appeal ofCurtis, a particular form of organization in thefeudal society.
Rho is first mentioned in a written document from January 9, 864 AD, a certificate of permutation by the notary Agatone, referred to the village simply as a bunch of houses under the name ofVicus Raudus, with a church entitled toSant'Ambrogio and a rough castle. Other two parchments recalling Vicus Raudus are dated 871.
Around 1000 AD the town bloomed as a freecommune and in 1004 EmperorHenry II, after the victory over the Lombards of KingArduin of Ivrea and his coronation as King of Italy, visited Rho, signing some documents; he accorded toRodo the role ofcapopieve and instituted a weekly market, which takes place every Monday even nowadays. He also instituted a Court of Justice and dug a canal for irrigation, using the waters of Olona.
It dates back to 11th century also the half-legendaryGiovanni de Raude, flagbearer of the Christian army during theFirst Crusade; he was the man hoisting the first Christian flag on theJerusalem walls in the battle of July 15, 1099.
In 1160, Rho was razed to the ground byFrederick Barbarossa, as punishment for rebellion against theHoly Roman Empire; it was quickly rebuilt. Between 1130 and 1215 nine consuls from Rho are recorded in the Milanese state, some of them belonging to the family ofCapitanei de Raude, residing in Rho since 1196.
According to a document filed in the Archive of theOspedale Maggiore ofMilan, around 1300 a first hospital was built in Rho; in 1481 its goods were bought by theAugustinians friars of Santa Maria del Pasquerio in Rho.
In 1305 the nobleCressone Crivelli tried with his soldiers to take possession of Rho andNerviano, but he was defeated by the popular reaction. Eight years later the town was nonetheless conquered by Milan, who killed or imprisoned almost all the inhabitants.
Because of its water and fertile lands, in the 15th century many Milanese notables moved to Rho, building sumptuous palaces, mostly no longer existing. The noble presence was such that in Rho was instituted aUniversitas nobilium dicti loci de Raude. Between the 16th and 17th century two new monasteries were built: by Agostinians and by Capuchins (on the road to Lucernate), both destroyed in the Napoleonic invasion.
In 1511 theLandsknecht, commanded byMatteo Schinner, sacked Rho during their descent in Italy. Then the Spanish domination took place and in 1539King Charles V granted the feud to Visconti family. In 1570 aplague epidemic took place in the population, already weakened by the Spanish oppression.
According to the chronicles of that time, on 24 April 1583 a painting ofPietà cried blood tears, event subsequently recognized as a miracle by theCatholic Church. Instead of the chapel where the painting was placed, aSanctuary to the Lady of Sorrows was built, with the collaboration of several artists among the best of the region.
During the 17th century plague hit again the zone, and in 1663 the inhabitants erected in the current piazza San Vittore aCroce della peste (Cross of the plague), moved beside the parish church in 1928 and moved back to its original place seventy years later.
In 1928 a Royal Decree assigned to Rho the town ofPassirana, previously part of the comune ofLainate; in 1932 Rho got the official title ofCittà.
On 10 October 1956 in the hamletTerrazzano two drifters abducted about one hundred students and three teachers of the local primary school. During the police blitz, which took place after six hours, policemen mistakenly killed Sante Zennaro, who had heroically tried rescuing children negotiating with the kidnapper.
At the beginning of 21st century, the new exposition centre ofFiera di Milano was built inside an area for the 90% in the territory of Rho and for the remaining part in the township ofPero. Inaugurated in 2005, it was projected by the architectMassimiliano Fuksas and is constituted by eight pavilions for a total exposition surface of 345,000 square metres (3,710,000 square feet) indoors and 60,000 square metres (650,000 square feet) outdoors. In a closeby area took place theExpo 2015.
One theory derives the name from theCampi Raudi where the Roman consulCaius Marius defeated theCimbri. The name is presumably from theCelticrhaudes 'field', orraud orrod 'river' (cf.Roddi andRoddino in theProvince of Cuneo). Another postulates that the city was founded by expatriates from the Greek island ofRhodes.[6]
The current name of Rho, with the "h" in the middle, was made official in 1932, but the town has had various other names. The first document mentioning Rho, in 846, calls itVico Raudo, and it consists of a hamlet surrounded by cultivated lands.Vico is a group of houses in the country, whileRaudo probably comes from the LatinRhaudum, a rough castle existing there.[7] Other names include:Rhode,Rodo,Raude,Raudo,Rhaudum; in 16th-17th century one common version wasAro,[8] thenRò,Rhò andRho.
In hisCommentari sulle famiglie milanesi,Raffaele Fagnani imagines aRhodian origin.[9] This hypothesis is no longer tenable.
The coat of arms of the municipality is the wheel with five spokes, crest of the Capitanei de Raude family, vassals of the dukes ofSaxony andBavaria.[10] The five spokes are recalling five emperors:Henry the Fowler,Otto I,Otto II,Otto III andHenry II. In heraldry the wheel is a symbol of luck or victory, recalling the Latin saying:the powerful wheel crushed every opponent.
In the ancientBasilica of Aquileia there is a chapel named toTorriani family, where, between two coffins, stands the tombslab ofAllegranza da Rho (14th century), wife ofCorrado della Torre and mother of the patriarchCassono della Torre. On the tombstone is engraved the crest of Rho, pictured as a shield with a wheel in the middle.
^Relazione sullo stato dell'Ambiente a Rho, by Lucia Coletti, Ivano Colombo and Angela Garavaglia, Comune di Rho, 2007
^abAutori vari,Di città in città – Insediamenti, strade e vie d'acqua da Milano alla Svizzera lungo la Mediolanum-Verbannus, Soprintendenza Archeologia della Lombardia, 2014
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